Coming Home
by little red cardigan
Summary: When Peter comes back for her, Jane wonders where she truly belongs.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything at all.

**Pairing:** Peter/Jane

**A/N: **I was watching _Return to Neverland_ the other day, and I thought it was the cutest thing. It's my favorite Disney movie now. It's sad, considering it was my first time watching it, even though the movie's been out since around 2002. Since watching it, I came up with this idea, so I hope you like it.

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><p><strong>Coming Home<br>**

Jane had blanched when the first boy had asked her out.

She declined, as respectfully as she could, and unknowingly to her, he would not be the last.

They walk by her house, to see if they could catch a shadow or an image of her through her open window. They wait in the morning, just to see Jane walk out her front door to meet her friends to walk to school. They profess their self-acclaimed love for her by throwing rocks at her window like the hopelessly romantic Romeo they're willing to be, and some would actually sing to her. Rather than feeling flattered, the songs brought an embarrassed blush to her cheeks. Her father literally had to chase the boys away from her house with a bat.

Not that these boys weren't nice. By all standards, they were wonderful boys. Even her mother gushed about how much attention Jane was receiving, while her father grumbled about it, and her brother, typical boy, was disgusted by it. It was just that these boys didn't have what Jane was looking for.

None of them had these mischievous pair of hazel eyes. None of them had soft, reddish-brown hair. None of them wore a hat with a red feather sticking out. None of them had ever fought pirates—

_Stop_, she thought to herself. She was not going to think about _him_.

Jane stood in front of her mirror, observing her sixteen year old self to see why those boys were infatuated with her in the first place. Her boyish cut had grown out in length to the small of her back, pin-straight as ever, as opposed to her mother's corkscrew curls. Her eyes were the same, blue eyes she's seen every day. Her body was slender—too slender for her liking—which was why her mother tried to feed her as much as she could during meals. Jane's body just refused to gain any more weight.

In contrast to the boys chasing her—which she wished that they _not_—her life was boring.

Lifeless. Dull. Placid.

The highlight of her childhood had been at a not-so-imaginary-place called Neverland. True, at the foolish age of ten, she had thought that Neverland had been a made-up place where children go to when they're tucked in bed, with their mothers speaking the stories as humming, soothing lullabies. She had tried not to believe at first, but there was no doubt that Neverland in fact, existed.

And so did _he_. Peter Pan. Of course, he never aged, and was just about as adolescent as you could get. How she wanted to stay there, with him most importantly, but she also wanted to grow up and experience what adults do. She'd like to go to parties, get married, have a family, and grow old in her life.

Well, in spite of it all, she contradicted herself. There was pretty much no chance she was going to get married, considering she kept rejecting all the eager boys that approached her. She's been to those grown-up parties, and trust her, they weren't all that great. And to tell the truth, she was afraid of growing old.

Her escape from this world was put into plan that night, the moment a rock hit against her window.

_Not another one,_ Jane rolled her eyes. She swore, the rocks were making a large dent in her window. _Father's going to be mad again. _

She would have to take matters to her own hands. So focused on her English essay, she was about ready to yell at the boy, politeness or not. Jane gripped her window sill angrily, pushing it open, glaring out into the night. She opened her mouth, but found that no boy was standing below her.

_Strange_, she shrugged, looking around before turning her gaze up.

Jane looked into hazel eyes.

She automatically clamped her mouth, muffling her cry as she jumped back away from her window. Her breath escaped her, her steps retreating until she stumbled to the edge of her bed. The hard edge of the furniture prevented her no way to step back, acting as a minor intervention. This was all just a dream. But then, the last time she had thought that, she had been entirely wrong.

"Peter…"

The boy clad in nothing but green perched himself on the window sill. He had grown taller and much more handsome than she remembered — okay, why did she think that? — and was it just her, or did he look older? That was right next to impossible. He was never supposed to age. He looked about twelve the last time she saw him. The boy in green perched in front of her was certainly not twelve. He looked seventeen now, and it provided a major difference.

He wasn't supposed to grow! That was a conspiracy against ageless Neverland and the boyhood that Peter Pan stood for!

"Jane." His voice was a mere whisper, but it sent involuntary shivers down Jane's spine.

"Peter," she voiced her confusion, stepping up to take a closer look. "You…You're not twelve anymore."

_Wow, you just pointed out the glaring obvious, Jane._

The boy shook his head, as though saying that he would explain it all later. Peter didn't particularly enter through the window, but held his hand out. "Come here, Jane."

Jane walked towards him without a second thought. It was because she knew Peter, and he had taught her how to believe in things like flying and pixie dust, and just by that, it made her trust him.

When she was at a reachable length, Peter grasped her by the hand, pulling her flush against his body. She instantly sighed at the familiar touch, her arms quickly going around his neck as she felt his strong arms tighten around her waist. Jane let her neck rest against his shoulder, her heart beating when his face burrowed itself in her neck. His breath was pleasantly warm against her cold neck.

His simple touch brought back millions of childhood memories of when she had been ten. In a flash, Jane saw Neverland, the adorable Lost Boys, Mermaid Cove, and she even remembered Captain Hook.

"Your hair," Peter murmured, but did not move away from her. His fingers ran through her silky, light brown hair, "It's longer now."

"Well, you look older," she retorted with a small grin.

Peter smiled. Same ol' Jane.

And yet, not the same.

If he had thought that she was cute all those years ago, he thought she was irrevocably beautiful now. Of course, he noticed the drastic change, which was her hair. She was still shorter than him, standing just under his chin. Jane was still a skinny girl, though she held the most petite curves Peter's ever seen, and he longed to run his hands through every crevice of them. Her eyes were still the brightest blue he remembered her to have.

Jane tilted her head with what he thought was an adorable manner. "Where's Tinker Bell?"

"I didn't bring her with me."

That was very odd. Tinker Bell never left Peter unsupervised. Especially if they were going to the human world, which Jane knew of as Earth.

She noticed that his hands hadn't left her waist, but she didn't mind. Instead, Jane blushed. "I miss Neverland," she said, hoping Peter would pay attention to that than her red cheeks.

"Do you?" he asked with a hopeful hint.

She nodded. "I do."

"Because I can take you back," Peter told her, brushing her hair away from her shocked face. "We can go right now, and you'll be able to stay in Neverland." _With me._

"Is that why you're here?" Those blue eyes were ever so wide and blue. "To take me back?"

"Yes." _Come back with me, Jane. Because I miss you._

_Because I love you._

It had taken him quite a while, two centuries to be exact, since time moved differently between here and Neverland, but Peter now understood what love meant. At first, after Jane left, his heart ached in a strange way. He dismissed it, thinking that it would go away. However, it didn't. For the next passing of years, that ache turned to a swelling pain in his chest. Whenever he thought of Jane, the pain intensified and he felt as though someone had punched him in the gut and sent him reeling back.

That was how bad it was. His love for Jane, even though he denied it at first, was killing him. To his horror, he even started to age to thirteen, then to fourteen, to fifteen, to sixteen, and finally at seventeen, just a year older than Jane was now. He planned that his aging would stop at seventeen. Once he couldn't stand the physical and mental pain anymore, Peter left that morning to fetch for Jane, to bring her back where she belonged.

Jane had been thinking that this wasn't rational at all. In fact, this was reckless to the nth degree. Flying off with a boy, and never coming back, never seeing her family again…

Something about Peter's smoldering gaze spoke for her. There was this intense look in his eyes, causing Jane's stomach to churn inside. No other boy had made her feel this way before. Is it possible that she was having feelings for _Peter Pan_? No, he's probably got a whole bunch of girls in Neverland waiting on him, excluding the lusty mermaids, that is.

But this was what she wanted, hadn't she? A life full of never-ending adventure. And maybe Peter being there beside for all eternity had something to do with it.

She reached up and touched Peter's hand that was curved against her cheek. "Okay."

Peter was feeling exultant and it was a feeling beyond words, but he couldn't help but make sure. "Are you sure? You realize that once you come back, you're there for good. No turning back."

"I know," Jane smiled, melting Peter's heart. "That's why I want to go."

An ecstatic smile spread on Peter's face, to which Jane had readily returned it. "Just wait for me, will you?" she asked, and when he nodded, she disappeared to the dark corner of her room.

Peter waited and watched patiently as Jane took out a white piece of parchment and write a couple lines on it. He suddenly felt selfish, taking her away from her family and friends, but she had wanted to go also. After she finished writing, she left the parchment in the middle of her bed, where she'd know her parents would look first.

"Do you remember how to fly?" he asked her, his excitement of her return barely contained.

A thoughtfully expression crossed her face. "I think so. But don't I need some pixie dust?"

"It doesn't matter. You've already been to Neverland, so all you need to do is think happy thoughts."

Happy thoughts? When was the last time she had ever been truly happy?

In Neverland. With Peter particularly.

Jane closed her eyes, imagining the world of magic and beauty. All the adventures, all the fun. Unknowingly to herself, a smile crawled her way onto her face as she imagined. The pressure of Peter holding her hand reassured her, and she laughed when her feet lifted off the floor. It was working!

With her eyes closed in concentration, and the beguiling smile on her face, Peter had fallen in love with her all over again, and he felt the strong urge to kiss her pretty pink lips. He swore to never grow up and falling in love was a very grown-up thing, but he found that he just didn't care. He loved Jane, and that was a fact that would be unhindered. If falling in love with her meant that he would grow up, then the idea of it as a whole wasn't so bad.

Jane would miss her family, but she supposed London was never supposed to be the home for her. At least, not after she was introduced to Neverland. Jane was right in thinking that Neverland was where she belonged. Sensing Peter's charming face staring right at her was enough to realize she was willing to go wherever he would go. She would follow him, as long as he would take her.

Hands intertwined together, the two headed out for the second star on the right.

She was coming _home_.


End file.
